Keep Your Distance
by Amethyst Soul
Summary: EPILOGUE! It's done! ^_^ A future where nothing goes right for anyone. PG-13 for language.
1. Part I

I hate this... this is *completely* off schedule. I have like ten other stupid fics to write and then THIS one pops into my head and I can't help but write it! It's gonna be a short one though ^.^ Well, okay, semi-short. I got inspiration for this while watching Jett Jackson The Movie and hearing that song Silverstone and Kayla were dancing to... I admit, I fell in love with that song the minute I heard it. It influenced me greatly in writing this fic, and will pop up somewhere near the end... maybe.   
Anyway, I dedicate this to my ex, Lenzy. (He doesn't have my pen name so ha! He can't read this!). Even though it seems like longer than a week since we've been apart, I still think about you day to day. And you were right, it wouldn't have worked out. The distance was too great. The effort was too little. But for those five months that everything seemed perfect... I thank you. For those five months, you shattered sixteen years of loneliness, and I'll never forget it. I'll miss what we had. I'll miss you.  
  
Disclaimer: Do I really need to do this? Like you people are *ever* going to sue me. Hah. Heh. Heh. Ok, fine. Don't own any of the characters except for Liz. I don't own the song 'Lately' by Divine. Don't go thinking I'm music oriented! The glasses around here sure don't agree...  
  
Thank you so much to Arm&Leg, who were nice enough to beta-read this for me. You guys are the best.  
  
  
Keep Your Distance  
  
  
Zim sat in chemistry class, bored (excuse the human maxim) out of his mind, legs propped up on the desk, his light olive Irken head leaning back. His position in the chair was almost impossible, but oddly relaxing.   
He tuned out his teacher in the front; the brandish fool who always went off on a tangent here and there, blabbing jargon that meant nothing to anyone anyway. 'Who gives a damn'? Zim thought, as he closed his eyes, attempting to get some rest rather than waste his time listening to the Kinetic Molecular Theory. On Irk, it wasn't a simple stupid theory. But here everything was so primitive and repulsive...  
Zim had to divert his mind to something else before he became too disgusted. It had been almost a month since everyone was back in skool. The summer had been brutal- a deathly hot sun, boring down on everything, everywhere. Zim himself was three shades darker, and he did not like it at all. Hopefully it would wear off.  
And the summer was similar to this 'hell' that humans were always talking about. Not only was in unbearably hot, but the armada had failed to come /again/, and Dib had been one huge thorn in his side, having nothing but time on his hands to bother the Irken.  
"Paraganai," Zim cursed in his own language. That was the second time today he caught himself using a human term, and the second time he wondered where or not he should just orbit Earth the blow the damned thing up.  
Every day he hated Earth more and more, and Dib could see his growing frustration, often using it to his advantage. Now they were back in school, their battles had calmed down a bit, but not enough for Zim to come to a lax point.  
And to exacerbate the situation, Gir was malfunctioning.  
It took awhile for Zim to notice, of course. It was not as though it was an easy thing to detect. A couple weeks ago Zim realized that Gir was... off. He no longer consumed his normal diet of brainfreezies and cupcakes but virtually anything he could get his little robot hands on. Instead of his usual squeaking voice, the pitch varied from time to time, often right in the middle of a sentence, and almost always in some nonsensical garble about every subject conceivable. Sometimes, Gir's eyes would fade off, as though he'd crashed. A moment later they would flash the normal cyan color again, and he would walk off normally, as though nothing had happened.  
When Zim had determined it, he spent endless hours examining Gir's internal components, reinstating new chips, everything possible. Nothing seemed to work. So Zim let him go, and watched as, day by day, the robot became worse. Zim was almost afraid to leave Gir at home by himself, but bringing him to school would not alleviate the situation any, either.  
BRRRRRRIIINNG!  
Caught off guard, Zim fell off his chair in a state of total surprise. A few kids who noticed him laughed pitilessly, but Zim ignored them, standing up and dusting off his pants before standing up himself and walking out to lunch.  
Zim found himself a seat at Alumni Walk, a huge brick corridor that served as both a hallway and an eating area. He sat cross legged on one of the benches that were set off to the side, and pulled out a piece of paper, beginning his essay on Beowulf that was due next period in English class. He sighed, honestly not knowing why he came to school anymore- it was a waste of time. Who cares about this Beowulf person? He was fictitious. But humans seemed to deem importance in fictitious characters for some reason.   
Deep inside, Zim knew he couldn't give up. The Armada would come. And the idea of taking over this pitiful planet became so alluring that Zim new not to give up the relentless fight.  
Suddenly, a darkness shadowed over Zim. He finished the current sentence that he was in the middle of and with a sigh, looked up, already knowing who it was.  
"Hi, Zim," the cheerful figure said.  
"Hello, Liz," he mumbled, continuing his glare up at her. He looked down on his paper and then, in an obnoxious tone, said, "Do you mind?"  
"Oh!" Liz immediately sat down next to him in an obvious gesture of emotional attachment. She had dark black hair and a pale face. Her eyes were a light blue, and often she wore a dark line bordering them to what humans called 'mascara'. "Sorry. So... what's up?"  
"I'm writing something," he mumbled, not giving her another glance. "And I need to concentrate. So would you leave me alone?"  
"Oh... sure..." she said softly, giggling slightly. Before she could stand up, though, she was joined by another goth-clad girl.  
"Zim," the girl acknowledged his presence.  
"Gaz," Zim muttered, not looking up from his work and knowing instantly who the voice belonged to.  
"Liz, come on. Dib needs your portion of that project and it's due today."  
"Bye Zim," Liz waved.  
"Tell your brother, 'anno inai sinnex'," Zim said to Gaz, ignoring Liz, and not missing a beat in his writing.  
"What the hell does that mean?" Gaz asked.  
"He knows. Now go away. You're blocking my light."  
"Sure, Mr. Sunshine," Gaz said, hiding a smile, pulling Liz away.  
Zim shuddered, and continued writing, hoping that the day would be over soon. Each day became a living nightmare, and more and more frustrating to put up with. He'd spent four years on this horrid planet- four drawn out, useless years, and it was almost a shock to Zim himself how long he had spent on this planet. He was going to snap if the Armada didn't come soon.  
*******************************************  
"I'm home, Gir," Zim yelled loudly as he walked inside his house. He looked around, satisfied. Nothing around here had changed for six Earth years... except for the improvements he had made in his underground lab. And the fact that he'd scrapped the robot parents a long time ago. Parent Teacher Nights were no longer a required thing in school, plus Zim could always use the lame human excuse, 'They're working,' to any fool door-to-door salesman that bothered him.  
Gir sat, as usual, in front of the t.v., but, at a second glance, one could see that not everything was 'as usual'. Instead of being on the couch, Gir was on the floor. Instead of rightside up, Gir was upside down. "Cupcakes are not the scary monkey ooh!" Gir yelled his usual nonsensical greeting.  
"Hello Gir," Zim responded. His eyes glanced over at the television, which was off. Yet Gir was sitting there, watching it... he shook his head- he'd given up trying to figure Gir out a long time ago. He kneeled down and lifted the robot up, turning him back over and setting him down on the couch. He then walked over to the t.v. and turned it on to Gir's favorite show. He joined Gir on the couch, giving the robot a little pat. "Is that better?"  
"Cupcakes are brainfreezies too," Gir mumbled. "Do I sugar taste like chocolate MacMeaties? Doom space meat. Earth is Irk."  
Zim sighed as the robot went into 'crash' mode again, Gir's eyes fading black and his arms falling limp. He always said 'Earth is Irk' before he crashed, and Zim didn't know why. He sat by the robot, ignoring the t.v., until it woke up again, and then, seeing that Gir was once again functioning to the best of his poor ability, stood up without a word and walked down to his lab, leaving Gir to himself.  
"I love scary monkey bestest master tuna cupcakes," Gir whispered to himself.  
***************************************  
Outside Zim's 'fortress' were two girls, one with lavish violet hair, the other, shiny midnight black. They stood on the sidewalk just before the huge wooden planks that separated the house from the world. Zim had, a long time ago, put up a huge gate to keep people out, but had left it open upon coming home, thus accommodating the girls in their current need.  
"You are /so/ hormone crazed," Gaz complained, grabbing Liz by the arm and attempting to pull her away.  
"I am not!" Liz pulled her arm back.  
"Yes. Yes you are! You've had a crush on him for what, a week?"  
"Two," Liz beamed. "I think I'm in love."  
"I think you're pathetic."  
"Oh shut up. Come ON," Liz gesticulated toward the house. "You KNOW how long I've wanted to do this."  
"You do this every time. Why is Zim different? Remember Mak? And then there was Jon. And don't forget Tom."  
"I never really liked any of those guys anyway," Liz said with a huge, obvious grin planted directly on her face.  
"...Ron. Rob. Roy. Ren. Ray. All the R's in our class," Gaz went on. "And then you went for the S's. Sam. Sid. Stu. Stan-"  
"Stan?!"  
"Oh, you're right, that's a four letter name."  
"Anyway," Liz rolled her eyes and looked back at the house in it's tall, commanding stature. "Just think. He's in there. The dreamy green cutie of our class... Zim."  
"I feel sick."  
"Meet Mr. Spooky," Liz said for no reason.  
"Is that why you like him?!" Gaz asked, returning their conversation. "Because his name starts with 'Z?'"  
"Well, the X-list sucked and so did the Y-list... plus I didn't want to start all over again with the A's."  
"Xan was nice. He wasn't like that brain-dead jock-"  
"Xan was a jerk," Liz cut in. "And so was that brain-dead jock. But Zim..."  
"Zim is definitely a jerk."  
"Zim is a cute jerk."  
Gaz stared at her for a moment and shook her head in disgust. "Why am I even best friends with you?"  
"Hey!" Liz stood up, offended. "If it wasn't for me introducing myself to you back in 7th grade, you'd still be best friends with that game labor thing."  
"Game slave," Gaz corrected, and then her eyes sparkled. "Oh! Now I can do something productive with my time instead of wasting it with you drooling over Zim!" She fished it out of her backpack. "I love you, game slave." Upon the weird looks her friend gave her, she grinned. "Game slave is my drug."  
"I bet it is," Liz said, distracted. She took another glance and breathed deeply. "I'm going in."  
"Five seconds later... you'll be going out."  
"Not if *I* have anything to do with it," Liz grinned and winked at Gaz.  
Gaz momentarily paused her game slave and stared at Liz for a moment. "You're just sick. I think I actually feel sorry for Zim."  
Liz gaped. "Oh, my. I got Gaz to pity someone. I'm better than I thought."  
"Go knock on that damn door and get rejected already so I can go home," Gaz muttered, leaning on the fence. At Liz's pause Gaz's eyes shot her a 'look' from under her unkempt bangs.  
"Aren't you gonna come in with me?" Liz asked, knowing very well that the 'look' meant nothing when directed toward her.  
"You big baby," Gaz stood up and led the way through the door, down the pathway littered by broken down dirty lawn gnomes and crabgrass the size of small bushes. The yard itself was rejected in every way.  
"He doesn't garden much," Gaz mumbled, intently playing the game slave as she walked. "You should see his interior decorator."  
"You've been inside his house?" Liz asked credulously.  
"Just to get my nimrod brother one day. Make a big deal of it and I'm leaving you here to face the wrath of the lawn gnomes."  
"Okay, okay."  
Gaz halted at the door and continued her gaze, deep into the fascinating glow of the game slave. "Go ahead. Knock."  
Liz sighed and drew up the palm of her hand to the door. She gave three loud, forceful knocks, and when her hand dropped back down to her side she began to grin uncontrollably.  
"I still cannot believe you're doing this," Gaz said. "What are you even going to say to him?"  
Liz did not have a chance to answer, as the door began to slowly creak open.  
Zim stood there, looking more than slightly ticked off. His hair was looking slightly lopsided, and he was panting as though he had been running. Gaz hid a smile as she continued to play her game slave.  
Liz turned to face Zim, standing at a height just under his eyes. Zim stood taller, now, Gaz noted. He was able to match Dib's height all the way to 10th grade.  
In a way it was sort of hilarious. Dib and Zim, for the longest time, had gone through a competition to see who could be the tallest of the two. They had done strange things... hung off of bars, ate MacMeaties special body-building bars, drank excessive amounts of milk... and in the end the two ending up being exactly the same height. 5'8".  
That pissed them both off, but finally they gave up and gone back to trying to destroy each other. Gaz marveled at the fact that it was an entertaining thing to watch back then, both of the guys acting like idiots. "Actually," Gaz thought, "They *still* act like idiots."  
"Um... um... hi!" Liz said cheerfully, and Gaz snapped back to the current event.  
Zim's eyes scanned from Liz, to Gaz, and back to Liz again. "What are you doing here?"  
"I... just wanted to say hi!" Liz said, and upon hearing the words come out of her mouth knew she probably looked like the biggest fool to walk this Earth.   
"Hi? Is that all? Look, wormbag-" Zim began.  
"Oh, of course not!" Liz said, laughing nervously. "I also came for another reason."  
A moment of silent passed and Zim lifted his (invisible) eyebrow in apprehension. "And that reason would be..."  
"...um... because... I... wanted to remind you!"  
"Remind me of what?"  
"Um... well..." Liz paused. "You know, I was going to remind you that..."  
Gaz looked up sharply and decided to put her game slave away for the moment. She glanced at Zim. "She wanted to remind you that if you don't come to school tomorrow with your... uh... Spanish project, that Mrs. Leathers will *so* have it in for you."  
"Yeah," Liz nodded, sighing in relief.  
"You're not even in-" Zim began, when suddenly they heard a crash from behind him. Zim spun around to see Gir, running like a maniac around the room, using his jets off and on and off and on and basically throwing a fit.  
"The cupcakes are inside like scary monkey holders. Why doom when pretty lights? Giggle eat dance and that's the end," Gir shouted while bouncing up and down on the floor by turning his jets on for a few seconds then shutting them abruptly off again.  
"Gir!" Zim yelled, turning around and holding the door open. "Quiet down!"  
Liz peered into the house and almost laughed at the atrocious picture that was set above a ragged, magenta-colored couch. She then observed the lightly green-colored dog that was raising such a ruckus.  
"CHU SHO KU! Noodles and brain worms have no plate!" Gir yelled, and Zim could hear the familiar zip of his disguise.   
"No Gir! Don't take off that-" Zim sighed, exasperated, and left the door to tend to the insane robot.  
"Who's Gir?" Liz asked.  
"Zim's pet robot."  
"You sure know a lot about Zim."  
"My brother's been hunting him since the 5th grade, claiming he was an alien. Then he comes home looking like something the cat dragged in and explains to me in detail stuff I don't care to know."  
"..."  
"Exactly."  
They turned back to observe the debacle inside. Zim was now chasing a hyper Gir around the room.  
"Gir- no!"   
"Nakey is mini-monkey. Anti-doom, anti-doom, anti-doom, anti-doom!" Gir yelled as he trashed the picture on the wall and then proceeded to fly out the door, knocking straight into Gaz. She fell back and crashed to the ground, the game slave slipped out of her hands.  
"Earth is Irk," Gir mumbled into her shoulder, and proceeded to shut down.  
"What the hell?" Gaz yelled, jumping up and dusting herself off. She held Gir up for a moment, and, in seeing it was in 'off' mode, tossed it to Zim.  
"He hasn't been functioning properly," Zim said, catching Gir and stepping back.  
"Ohh... the poor thing," Liz said, giving Gir a pat on the head and grinning at Zim.  
"Yes, yes, yes, poor Gir," Zim cradled the thing in his arm and turned away. "Now get off my property. You're not welcome here," he snapped, slamming the door shut.  
"That went well," Liz said to Gaz, staring at the door.  
"Well? WELL?!" Gaz kneeled next to her fallen game slave and picked it up, examining it to make sure it was okay. It was a hard fall, but all in all everything seemed to be alright. She brushed the crumbs of dirt and glared at Liz. "I am never doing this again with you, Liz."  
Liz smiled and gazed at the sky. "He's even dreamier than I thought."  
"You're making me throw up." Then, with a thought, Gaz added, "You better be lucky I saved you when I did."  
"Oh... yeah... that reminding thing. I was gonna remind him of something, I really was! I just wasn't sure how to put it."  
"Oh, I know you were going to remind him of something," Gaz narrowed her eyes at Liz and shut the game slave off. Liz blushed and looked away. "Don't even think about it. He's going to drop you like a bag of sand."  
Liz sighed. "But I have to try."  
"Zim has never participated in anything since I've known him... except p.e.... he seemed to enjoy playing dodgeball. Until it was his turn, of course. But this... this is different, Liz. Find another guy for this."  
Liz sighed, not listening to a word her friend was saying, and walked off down the sidewalk in her own dream world.  
****************************************  
He was being chased again.  
Zim ran... no... /stumbled/... over the hard concrete ground, trying to get away.  
The dark shadow behind him was advancing.  
He wiped sweat from his forehead and continued running. He couldn't stop. Stopping meant death. Stopping meant the end. And he wasn't ready for the end.  
Ahead, bright lights were coming into view. Zim lurched forward, forcing his Irken heart to beat far past it's usual ability. The world around him twisted into an odd, shapeshift sort of way, making his journey across the darkness even more difficult.  
But the light ahead was so close...  
The wind whipped around him as he increased his speed. No matter how fast he ran, the soft humming of the creature behind him always followed. He dared not look back. Looking back was just as bad at as stopping.  
All was silent, except for the sound of a young teenage boy, running, panting, and the pounding of his heart against his chest.  
The light in front of Zim actually came from inside a window. There were hundreds of windows. And smack dab on the side of the building where the light emanated from was the Irken symbol.  
"Almost... there..." Zim huffed.  
"Master..." a voice whispered from behind Zim, sending chills up his spine and his antennae raising straight up.  
Zim squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn't stop. Not for anyone. Not for-  
"Master..." the voice came again.  
Zim didn't turn around. He just kept running. And then, suddenly, before him appeared the small, shiny little robot with the bright cyan eyes.  
Zim couldn't stop, and he didn't. He plowed right into the SIR unit and the two were sent slamming painfully into the cold black ground from underneath them. Zim picked Gir up in his arms and gazed up at the shadow which pursued him, his eyes showing fear.  
The figure was no figure at all, but his arch rival, Dib, flashing a menacing grin and bringing what looked like a fancy gun to Zim's head.  
Inside Zim's arms Gir whimpered, and he held onto it tight, looking Dib square in the face, ready to meet his defeat.  
But Dib only laughed, a horrible, deep-throated laugh that sliced throughout the night in an eerie way. And then Dib's face twisted into at first an unrecognizable, looming figure.  
As Zim gazed up at the figure, he could only curse in his native language. This time, he shut his eyes tight, afraid. Darkness surrounded him...  
"GAH!" Zim sat up, panting, and looked around the room. It was another nightmare.  
"Damn planet," Zim muttered, standing up and shaking the cold sweat that covered him. He fell asleep in his lab these days, usually right in his chair, sometimes having enough sense to lie down somewhere. He put more and more effort each day into his growing frustration of conquering Earth, and the wait... the constant feeling of impatience... only made his frustration grow worse.  
"When I take over..." Zim heard himself begin to say, but then stopped himself. It was no use any more to make the empty threats. He was about to return to bed when suddenly he heard a blaring noise from upstairs.   
"What the..." Zim leapt up and raced out of his lab, hoping Dib was not up to his old tricks again.  
The entire house was dark, except for a slight glowing light coming from the living room. Zim crouched down, ready to attack if necessary. He slowed his breathing and listened intently. It sounded as though the t.v. were on...  
Zim peered into the living room, and then stood up. It was just Gir, watching t.v.   
"Gir?" Zim asked, walked into the room.  
"Hello master!" Gir shouted. "I love this show," his attention span was directed back to the t.v., which blared the ugly mammal of the scary monkey show (of all the hours...).  
Zim's heart stood still. "Gir?" he said again, almost in disbelief.  
"Want a cupcake?" Gir asked, turning his head toward Zim again and holding a chocolate, lumpy thing in the air.  
"No... no thanks, Gir," Zim breathed, having to sit down on the couch because he was having trouble maintaining his balance while standing up.   
"Okay!" Gir popped the cupcake into his mouth, and instantly his eyes welled up into tears. "I miss you... cupcake."  
Then the robot snuggled next to Zim on the couch and fell asleep.  
  
  
Okay. So, I'm in the middle of the second half as of now, with Arm&Leg thankfully beta-reading it for me. It should go up soon... but I think I'll get out another chapter of IGLIDZ first...  



	2. Part II

Hmm... look. Part Two! Once again, thank you Arm&Leg for continuing to beta-read this fic, even in the midst of all those other ones you're writing... .. I'm really glad Gir is back to normal too... I think that he was actually beginning to make sense to me. ^.~  
  
Keep Your Distance- Part II  
  
"Teacher? Mr. Malone isn't a teacher. Bill Nye the Science Guy is the only teacher we have in that class," Liz was complaining the next day to a game slave enthralled Gaz.  
"Mhmm," Gaz mumbled as she reached level 20 and began blasting the brains out of literally everything around her in the virtual world.  
"That's all he shows. Old science videos of a guy that's probably dead," Liz shut her locker, exasperated, and turned to Gaz.  
"Mhmm," Gaz agreed.  
"And..." Liz glared at Gaz, "So then I told Zim you'd be going to Homecoming with him instead of me."  
"Mhm- WHAT?!" Gaz looked up from her game and gave Liz a piercing stare. "You'd better be joking or I will personally remove your-"  
"Cool it, cool it, I'm joking," Liz grinned. "Like I'd ever let you have Zim."  
"Mhmm..." Gaz said, going back to her game slave.  
"Gaz!" Liz stomped her foot on the floor. "I did that to get your attention, not have you go off into game world again!"  
"Okay, okay," Gaz shut it off and put it back in her backpack. "Principal Stillmon threatened to take it away from me if he ever caught me playing with it on school grounds again anyway."  
"Don't you have a backup?"  
"Three. But that doesn't mean I'm not emotionally attached to all of them."  
"And you say I have a problem..." Liz shook her head and began walking toward the cafeteria. "Anyway, actually I'm glad you stopped me yesterday, from asking Zim."  
"Really?"  
"Yes. It has given me time to prepare!" Liz lifted a triumphant hand in the air.  
"May I remind you that /you/ are the one setting yourself up for defeat, and that /you/ are the one that will be hurt, and /I/ tried to stop you to be best of my ability that doesn't involve my fist."  
"You just don't understand love," Liz sighed.  
"Yes I do. I have a love for my game slave, and that's secure enough. My game slave will never dump me. My game slave will never reject me. And my game slave will never stand me up. My game slave is completely loyal."  
"You do realize you're talking about a piece of machinery, right?"  
"Yes. Yes I do."  
"Gaz, for the life of me I don't think you've ever liked a guy."  
"I haven't. They're all stupid, suffer from ADD, and they smell."  
"Okay, so Zim isn't lemony fresh, but I bet you he cleans up real well. Besides, what's so wrong with liking a guy?"  
"Never really interested me."  
"Oh come on. I'm sure some guy has your heart beating twenty miles a minute."  
"Nope."  
Liz sighed and shook her head. "Well, I think it's no surprise that guys aren't chasing you. You have no love interest except for that game slave thing... and beyond that, face it, Gaz, you're ice cold."  
Gaz grumbled at that and frowned. "I don't really care either way."  
"I think you do," Liz smiled. "You're just afraid to show it."  
"Liz, you're the kind of person that would do anything for a guy to show him how much you care. And every time, it never works out. Why is that?"  
Liz thought for a second. "Because I discover the guy's a pig headed jerk, and not worth my time."  
"Then why are you after Zim? I mean, you barely know him."  
"Zim's different. And one must go through many tests to separate all the minnows from the... the..."  
"Bass?" Gaz offered.  
"Yeah."   
********************************************  
Knock. Knock. Knock.  
It was much later in the day, and she was trying to rest. "Why can't I ever get some peace around here?" Gaz complained as she lurched up from the bed and glared hatefully toward the door. "What is it?" she shrilled.  
"Who else would it be?" came the voice from behind the door. "Open up."  
Gaz flung the door open and switched on the light. "What is it, Dib? I was *trying* to relax before you bothered me."  
"Sor-ry," Dib muttered, pushing his glasses up higher on his nose. He leaned on the side of the door. "Just wanted to say that you're on your own for dinner tonight, so don't go starving at 9:00 thinking I'm going to make you something."  
"Fantastic. I don't feel like getting poisoned tonight anyway," Gaz's voice was dripping with sarcasm. She knew better than to ask about their dad- even if he were here, he would never make dinner. If Dib's cooking was like poison, Membrane's would have to be the result of a toxic spill. Gaz narrowed her eyes at her brother and raised a curious eyebrow. "And just where are you going?"  
"Meeting," he muttered, standing up straight again and buttoning up his trenchcoat.  
"Oh... yes. Another gathering of Paranormal Freaks Anonymous," Gaz sat down on a chair behind her and crossed her arms as her brother flashed an obvious grin, humored, she supposed, at her comment. Ever since he entered high school he couldn't have been happier. Since high school was so populated, freaks found other freaks, and they banned together in their own outcasted clique. As if things couldn't get worse, they then formed their own club, Dib being president of course. They actually /believed/ half of the stuff Dib said, which was scary in itself.  
"Call it what you want, Gaz. You're just mad because you weren't accepted into any group of your own."  
Gaz rolled her eyes. "Acceptance is the last thing I would ever want. I'd shoot myself if I were ever accepted into society."  
"I'll help."  
Gaz stood up, now, bothered by his presence. "Are you done, yet? I was kind of enjoying my alone time before /somebody/ came in and ruined it."  
"Sure... sure. Hey... how's Liz by the way?"  
Gaz grinned. Dib has had a crush on her ever since the day Liz and Gaz became friends. Liz, of course, never really showed an interest in him... ever. She generally ignored him, actually, unless it involved homework and school projects. "Liz is fine. So is her latest crush."  
"Oh?" Dib raised an interested eyebrow.  
"Yes," Gaz said, thoroughly enjoying this, and walking forward toward Dib as she talked. "I think she's going to ask him to Homecoming."  
"Oh, really?" Dib said, too intrigued to notice his sister's advance.  
"Yep." Gaz then took this time to push him out the door, slamming it behind him. "I think it'll be Zim's first dance, wouldn't you say so?"  
"ZIM?!" Dib practically screamed.  
Gaz smiled and locked the door before he could get in. Things rarely ever changed with Dib.  
"C'mon, Gaz, fess up," Dib said, banging on the door. "Tell me everything!"  
"You're going to be late for your meeting of the Paranormal Freaks Anonymous, Dib," Gaz said casually from the opposite side of the door.  
"That's Paranormal Faction Anonymous!" Dib corrected. "AND TELL ME ABOUT LIZ AND ZIM!"   
"Tuh," Gaz laughed under her breath. Dib was so gullible, it was actually quite funny. As much as he'd 'studied' Zim, he couldn't tell a lie from a truth. Gaz knew a lot about the way Zim had acted (mostly because of her brother's constant obsession since who knows how long ago). Zim hated the world more than even she did, and only by some miracle would he ever be romantically interested in anyone. Even if it was a feigned romantic interest. There was no way he could pull it off.  
"Your friend is in danger, you know!" Dib continued with his rant. "He'll lay eggs in her stomach! He'll implant chips into her brain! He'll use her to procreate his own army of fused Irkumans, and use them to take over the world! Zim wasn't at school today. THAT'S PROBABLY WHAT HE WAS DOING!!!"  
"I cannot believe you still think Zim is an alien," Gaz muttered through the door, grinning at the stupidity of what he'd just said and wondering what the hell an Irkuman was. "Obviously, someone hasn't grown up since 5th grade."  
"Things are different now! I even have followers who believe me!"  
And thus the rant went on.  
Gaz waited until her brother had given up and finally gone to that stupid meeting before tidying up her room a bit, then making her way downstairs to find something to eat. It wasn't too late, but her stomach growled for some junk food right about now.  
Five minutes later she found herself back in her room with a bag of chips and a week old brainfreezy that was not quite finished. Not much of a dinner, but still better than nothing. The house was quiet, and that was the way she liked it. It almost made her feel independent in a way- she imagined living on her own, without an annoying brother to worry about invading her private space.  
She sat down and began to eat, ticked because she was now pulled away from her deep thought and forced to confront her current angst, all because stupid Dib had interrupted her thought. Instead of thinking about her next poem, or possibly what the boiling point of blood would be (it was a fun subject to toy around with), she had to think about her current problem- Liz.  
Sometimes she did question her and Liz's friendship- they were never really compatible. The only thing that kept them together was some intangible thing. In a way, they were both rejects of society, and that suited them both fine. Just because they were rejects didn't mean they had to rule their lives the exact same way.  
Lately Liz's infatuation with Zim was becoming more and more tiresome to deal with. It was something straight out of one of those corny teen dramas, and stupid in itself. Gaz knew Zim would reject her, and when he did, she would be crying and moaning for about a week. Maybe more, because she generally seemed to be more attracted to Zim than any of her other 'interests'.  
Gaz stood up to pop in a Kittie CD into her CD player and fell onto her bed, trying to block her broken thoughts once again and focus on a different matter. What Liz had said earlier today was really bothering her.   
But Gaz couldn't let something like that get to her. It was stupid. She rarely let what Liz say to her really get underneath her skin, but for some reason, this leech-like comment crawled beneath there and then some.  
Sighing, Gaz stood up, turned off the light, and plugged in her headphones to the CD player.  
***************************************  
Zim poked slightly at the small, bready object that lay before him. In response, a slather of mayonnaise dripped off one of the edges onto the napkin it lay under. Zim pushed it away, disgusted. Sandwiches here were /not/ like the ones on Irk.  
He looked up to the sky, enjoying the momentary peace. For once Alumni walk was generally empty, mostly because the majority of the human organizations met today, and all the fools with their trivial lives scuttled off to make society proud. Disgusting.  
His joyful moment ended as soon as he saw Dib heading his way.  
"Wonderful," Zim said, cursing under his breath. He looked up at Dib as he approached and smiled as sickeningly sweet as he could. "Hello, human stinkbeast."  
"Insipid Irken," came Dib's reply as he sat down on a bench parallel to Zim's.  
The two glared at each other in silence for a moment or two. Then, Dib spoke.  
"So... I hear that you've found another plan to take over the world."  
Zim cocked his (invisible) eyebrow. "What are you talking about, human? You've infiltrated my lab before- you know things are at a standstill until the Armada comes."  
"Or so you say. Who knows? Maybe the Armada is on it's way," Dib sneered.  
"That's highly doubtful," Zim muttered under his breath.  
"But that isn't important right now, is it?" Dib continued, his voice suddenly becoming rigid and sharp. He slammed his fist on the bench. "You had better stay away from her or else I'll-"  
"And we're talking about who?" Zim asked evenly.  
Dib laughed in a tone that was not at all congenial. "You know who I'm talking about, Zim. Stay away from her," he repeated. "Or else."  
And with that, Dib stood up and walked off.  
Zim leaned back on the bench, glaring at the human in curiosity as he walked away. Surely he could not have been talking about Gaz. He had ignored and despised all of the Membrane progeny.  
But that enigma was the least of his worries now. He pushed it to the back of his mind to focus on another subject- the S.I.R. unit. He was still trying to figure out what happened to Gir. Surely it was not some overnight cure. That was impossible.   
Yesterday Zim didn't come to school, mainly for two reasons. The first was that he wanted to keep Gir under a close eye to make sure the robot was still functioning properly (for all he knew, the side effects could have gone 'dormant' for a little bit, then come back full blast). The second was that he wanted to investigate the 'solution' further, but no clues had been found.  
Gir just seemed to mysteriously get better. But that was impossible. He was a robot! Robots just didn't become... 'fixed' on their own. Yet, there was a perfectly possible chance that he had got into some internal controls of something and just shocked himself back to normal.  
Of course... the human nuisances Liz and Gaz had come over to pester him earlier that day. But they were both... well, /human/. They couldn't possibly have enough access or knowledge of Irken technology to fix Gir. Or could they?  
Liz... Liz's father worked in electronics, that Zim knew from a class project Liz had done just not a few weeks ago, where she had asked the male parent to come in and do a discussion with the class about something Zim didn't even pay attention to. She could have easily gotten technological information from him.  
Zim stood up and threw the sandwich away, making his way toward 'Freshman Circle'- a sort of pavilion where most of the younger human students stayed, and sometimes Liz and Gaz. He would find his answers there.  
**********************************************  
"That," Gaz said, looking up from her paper to give Liz a 'look', "Is one of the stupidest ideas I have ever heard. /That/ is your big plan to confront Zim about Homecoming?"  
"What?" Liz asked, leaning on the desk.  
Gaz glanced back at their teacher, who was now too preoccupied with another student to notice their garrulous actions. They were supposed to be writing descriptive poems in groups. Key word there is 'supposed' to. She turned back to Liz.  
"I refuse to assist you in any of your stupid schemes! You said you were just joking!"  
"Yeah, but it turned out not to be such a bad idea! Please, please, please, please, PLEASE? You said it yourself- you know a lot about Zim."  
"I didn't say it! You did!"  
"And you agreed. It's the same thing."  
Gaz looked down at the diagram on Liz's desk and picked it up. "I feel sorry for you, Liz. You must have spent a lot of time doing this, and it shall all go to waste because I'm. Not. Helping! Why are you dragging me into this anyway? You're the one that has a crush on him!"  
"Well..." Liz blushed. Her eyes slid back up to Liz. "Xan asked me to Homecoming."  
"When?!"  
"Yesterday night. He... he called me."  
"What did you say?"  
"I said I'd think about it. I mean... he can be a jerk and all... but he has his sweet moments...and I couldn't just drop him... I would feel horrible and then I wouldn't have a good time at Homecoming."  
Gaz sighed, tossing the blueprint back onto Liz's desk and picked up her pencil, looking around the room for something to describe so she could get the essay done with. "I'm not going to do it. I told you that already. And even if I *was*-"  
"Ha! We're getting one step closer!"  
"I'm being rhetorical."  
"That's still one step closer!"  
Gaz sighed, rolled her eyes, and continued. "Even if I *was* going to be a good friend and do it for you- which I'm not and I won't- it's not like Zim is going to say yes."  
"Which would leave me to have Xan and still be happy! But if Zim does say yes, I can vacillate-"  
"There is no vacillating in relationships, Liz! And to think this all could have been solved with a few simple words: 'No Xan, you're a jerk and I wouldn't be seen dead with you at Homecoming, so go ask some bimbo on the cheerleading squad because I refuse to be your puppet.'"  
"Those weren't a few simple words," Liz pointed out.  
"Shut up," Gaz's eyes fell onto the teacher's desk and focused where a metallic pen sat. It was really a nice pen, with a blue chrome finish and silver blades surfacing out of the side, adding an aesthetic sort of genre to the pen. Gaz looked down to her paper and wrote:  
  
  
Silver and shiny and sheen.  
Sharp in the sun's yellow gleam.  
It can draw letters,  
It can draw art,  
It can draw blood with a scream.  
If angled like any utensil,  
Like 'The Faculty' (well, they used a pencil),  
It can pierce through a part,  
It can pierce through a heart,  
Leave a brand lack the need of a stencil.  
  
  
Liz leaned over and read the poem, then looked up at Gaz and grinned. "I like it. It's very..."  
"Romantic? I thought so too," Gaz said, obviously pleased with herself, filling in her name, date, and period in the top right hand corner.  
"That really wasn't the word I was looking for."  
Gaz held the paper up in Liz's face and shook it a few times for effect. "It is. See? It mentions a heart. That's romantic."  
"But you're talking about stabbing it with a pen."  
"Like I said. As far as I'm going to go on the topic of romance."  
Liz stared at her for a moment, then shook her head. "You're very disturbing."  
BRIIIIIIING!  
Gaz stood up and turned her paper in. "Let's go to lunch. I'm suddenly hungry for something with ketchup."  
About ten minutes later, they found themselves sitting at a bench in the plaza, a section next to freshman circle. Gaz sat, satisfied, with a plate of the school's spaghetti.  
"Can I have some of your fries?" she asked Liz. Liz nodded and Gaz dipped the entire fry in ketchup before consuming it. She swallowed it completely before speaking. "Listen, Liz. You're my best friend, so I'm going to tell it to you straight. You'd do better staying away from Zim. He isn't who you think he is. I mean... love? Come on."  
Liz paused. "I'm not even sure it's love. But there's something about Zim..." she shook her head. "I'm going to sound strange, but there's something *about* him that you just don't find in other guys."  
"Of course not! He's insane!"  
"It's not that... It's just something I can't explain. C'mon, Gaz, don't tell me you're not the least bit attracted to those dark, deep, and mysterious types."  
"I'm not attracted to any type."  
Liz nodded. "Understandable." She stopped and met Gaz's eyes for a moment. "But Gaz... you're the only person I know that can help me with this. I don't know what I feel anymore. And I mean, you've got spark inside you- I've seen your poems."  
Gaz sighed. "Okay. I'll admit it if you leave me alone. I've got spark."  
"So... tell me how to get out my emotions. Like you do."  
Shaking her head, Gaz put her fork down for a moment. "Now way. I'm going to sound weird."  
"Please, Gaz. I've known you for almost three years. You haven't weirded me out just yet."  
"Fine..." Gaz sighed. "Fine I'll tell you. But you've got to promise not to laugh."  
Liz held up her right hand. "I promise."  
Gaz paused to take another bite of her spaghetti before continuing. "In order to get your deepest emotions out, you can't think too hard about it. If you do, you'll never be able to confront anything."  
"Doesn't sound weird so far," Liz input.  
Gaz nodded, "Yeah... well... in order to get those emotions out, you have to work in a certain 'zone'. What helps is to go into a room where you know no one will disturb you- I usually go to my bedroom. Then you turn off the lights, and stay there in the darkness for a long time. Light a few candles. Sit on the floor, very still. You know, get in the mood."  
"Then what?" Liz asked, leaning forward, interested.  
"Then, I put my headphones on, and blast my music really loud. So loud that I can't think. That's the whole idea. You don't want to /think/ about what you're writing- you'll never, ever get anything truthful out on paper that way. You just want to write. Ironically, writing what you're thinking without thinking what you're writing is the only most effective way to get your soul on a piece of paper."  
"So poetic," Liz grinned.  
Gaz nodded. "Then, with the music blaring, you take out your journal, close your eyes, and write. Don't worry about how crappy your writing may come out, or if you might go over the edge of the paper, just write- what you want, how you want."  
"And that works?"  
"Would I be telling you if it didn't?"  
"Okay... so, what happens once you're done writing?"  
"Well, if you find yourself brave, you do the opposite of everything. Instead of darkness, turn some lights on. Instead of music, give yourself silence. Sit on the table, blow out the candles. Then you read what you wrote."  
"And that's all?"  
"That's all."  
"Thank you /so/ much Gaz. You're a great help."  
"I'm going to regret this," Gaz muttered, stealing another fry from Liz.  
"Hey!"  
"Compensation," Gaz said as she popped it into her mouth.  
"Look," Liz pointed out towards Freshman Circle, blushing slightly as she did so.  
Gaz looked up to see Zim, wandering around the benches, looking a little lost.  
"Hey, Zim!" Liz yelled, waving her hand in the air. Zim turned in their direction.  
"Don't call him over here!" Gaz snapped at her, but stopped when she saw that Zim had actually decided to do just that.  
"Hello Liz... Gaz..." Zim nodded in their direction as he approached them.  
"What's up?" Liz asked, eyes shining. Gaz rolled her eyes at her friend's blatant actions.  
"Liz," he paused, as if thinking something over, and then continued, "Your father works in electronics, correct?"  
"Yeah," she nodded.   
"Do you happen to know anything... specific about machines?"  
"I do know a great deal," Liz piped up, happy that Zim was actually having a conversation with her that didn't involve demands for her to 'get out of the way' or 'go away'. "When my dad comes home from work, he thinks we're all so interested in knowing what he did for the day down to every little chip and bolt."  
"That is... interesting. And you listen?"  
Liz laughed. "I don't have a choice."  
"And what of you, Gaz?"  
Gaz blinked. Then she smiled and held up her game slave. "This is the only thing I know how to fix."  
"Liz!" yelled a voice from behind them.  
Gaz leaned over to get a better view and Liz let out a groan as they saw Dib walking toward them. Zim turned around and smiled- once Dib saw him there, his once cheerful face instantly darkened.  
"What are you doing here, Zim?" he asked as he steadily approached.  
"Just talking to Liz and Gaz," Zim said innocently, holding up his hands to show that he meant no harm.  
"Bull. You never 'just talk'. What's the real reason?" Dib peered at him angrily.  
"None of your business," Zim said, returning the glare.  
"Calm down, Dib," Liz piped up. "Zim was just asking about electronics."  
"I can testify," Gaz added.  
"And..." Liz, slyly grinning, poked her elbow into Gaz's ribcage. "Gaz was just about to ask Zim something."  
"Ow! My spleen!" Gaz snapped. "I was /not/ about to ask Zim anything, Liz, /you/ were about to ask Zim something."  
"Okay, I'll ask," Liz shrugged.  
"NO!" Gaz yelled, realizing her mistake.  
Zim stared blankly at the both of them. "And, what was I about to be asked... if I may ask?"  
Dib crossed his arms, obviously interested as well to hear what the question was.  
"Gaz wanted to know if-" Liz began, but soon Gaz's hand was clamped over her mouth.  
"I... wanted to know if Gir was doing better," Gaz spoke up.  
"Gir? How did you know about Gir?" Zim froze.  
"When we went over to your house," Gaz said in a 'duh' tone of voice.  
"Oh. Well... Gir is actually doing fine."  
"Good, because we were both really worried about him," Liz's muffled voice said from behind Gaz's hand.  
"Sort of," Gaz glared at Liz.  
"What were you two doing at Zim's house?" Dib yelled, exasperated. "Don't you know he's dangerous? He'll rip out your lungs and replace them with those little mooing toys! He'll turn your brains into mush! He'll perform experiments on your bodies!!!"  
Gaz stared blankly at Dib, then sighed. "And here I was, Dib, thinking that you've actually matured."  
"You thought I matured?"  
"Well, no, but I hoped you would."  
"Please, Dib," Zim sighed with a smirk on his face. "As if I'd let myself do something so /primitive/." He paused for a mock-dramatic effect and then continued. "If I really wanted to use Liz and Gaz for my *personal* experimentation, I'd first lead them on to *think* I was their friend. And then of course, I'd stalk them by night. When I gathered enough information I'd use my superior technology to abduct them while their sleeping up to my spaceship, in space, and THERE I would perform my experiments," he grinned wildly. "After all, I *am* an alien, remember, /Dib/?"  
Liz held back a laugh and Gaz grinned, trying to see what Dib's reaction would be.  
"I knew it! I KNEW IT! You admit it!!!" Dib yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Zim and leaping up on a bench next to him. "You're an alien! You've come to take over OUR planet!"  
Liz gave Dib a weird look and held back her laughter no longer. Gaz slapped her forehead- sometimes her brother could be a real numbskull.  
Zim smiled, obviously pleased with himself, then glanced down to Gaz, giving her a 'wink'. "In fact, Dib, I think it's time for phase three of my abduction."  
"What are you talking about?" Dib asked with serious regard, ignoring Liz's laughter.  
"I have a headache," Gaz said suddenly, standing up. She avoided Dib's sudden look of concern. "It feels... like something's hammering my brain...." She cringed and fell to her knees, hiding her face with her hands, and then, all at once, stopped cringing. She lifted her head and put a dull, emotionless expression on her face. "Must... bow down... to Emperor Zim..." Trying to hide a grin, she bowed on the ground before him. "Zim is my master. I must worship him. I must obey him. ALL MUST OBEY ZIM!"  
"Gaz, no!" Dib gasped.  
Gaz and Liz exchanged glances and they burst into a fit of laughter.  
"Right over your head, Dib," Liz said between breaths, "Oh my gosh... my chest hurts..." She stopped momentarily and then burst out laughing again.  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he grumbled, obviously humiliated. He stuck his hands in his coat pockets and looked off, blushing furiously.  
Gaz felt a tinge of guilt as he walked away, hurt, but then she caught Liz attempting to stifle her laugh and they ended up rolling on the ground again, laughing their heads off.  
"That was so good, Zim," Liz said.  
"It has brightened my day for now," he smiled, watching Dib until he disappeared into the main hallway.  
Gaz sat back down, brushing herself off, taking in a few deep breathes to recover. "Mine too. But I'm going to have an earfull when I get home tonight. Ahhh... the price I pay for being a Membrane."  
Zim nodded as if in agreement, and then, without another word, walked off in the opposite direction that Dib had left.  
"He didn't even say goodbye," Liz sniffled.  
Gaz rolled her eyes. "I still have no idea why the hell you like him. I mean, okay, it's fun using him to torture my brother but still..."  
"That's what confuses me too. I don't know why I like him, I just think he's a little green cutie."  
"You've have to be blind to think that freaky, green skinned... thing was cute."  
"So, are you going to ask him or what?" Liz asked suddenly.  
"Ask him what?"  
"About Homecoming!"  
"NO."  
"Please, Gaz. Come on. You know how important this is to me!"  
"No, no, no, for a million times no, Liz," Gaz said angrily. Her once good mood was shattered. "Stop asking, because all you're going to get is the same answer!"  
"I don't know why you're being so rude about it," Liz pouted.  
"You, Liz, are impossible," Gaz grumbled. Abruptly, she had lost her appetite. She stood up and threw away her lunch, almost knocking into a guy that had just approached them.  
"Woah," the guy jumped back. "Hey there."  
Gaz glared up at him, trying to get him to see that he was standing in her way. Stupidly, he just stood there. She shoved her way through him, muttering "Hi, Xan," as she did so. Once she had reached ten steps, she turned around to see if Liz would follow her- but Liz was currently busy talking to Xan with that goofy grin on her face again. It was useless! Gaz spun around and walked off, fuming.  
******************************************  
Zim tapped his claw-like fingers impatiently on the console, waiting in anticipation for the transmission to go through. It had been months since he last contacted the Almighty Tallests, but for some reason, Zim didn't think that bothered them much. He felt anxious to do it again, however- even if it meant the letdown of hearing them postpone the armada's arrival for another year. Contacting the Tallests was his only connection to reality; the only way he still felt Irken. Being on this planet for so long made him feel defiled- inirken, in a way. Some days he would wake up, and lose that natural Irken feeling of power and strength. He'd feel vulnerable, and weak, and empty. Almost... /human/. A feeling he could not forget, and an emotion that was so terrible he would instantly wish painfully for just a glimpse of home... Of course, nothing could satisfy that wish except a transmission.  
"Invaders do not get homesick," Zim sneered at himself under his breath, but even he could not ignore the growing excitement deep within his stomach as the transmission rate increased from 48% to 57%. He was almost there.  
He'd be able to see his superiors again. He'd see the regulation Irken C.P.U.'s from inside the Tallests' ship and even get a glimpse of the other Irkens. Pathetic, yes, but Zim knew how to hide his feelings of absolute pleasure. Now, the transmissions were the only things that made him happy anymore. With the exceptions of Gir doing a few obsolete, silly things to which Zim could not help but crack a smile.  
The transmission rate increased from 57% to 65%.  
Zim clenched his fist impatiently, scrutinizing the screen while fully knowing that it would only make his wait seem longer. Sighing, he attempted to relax. How did things come down to this? Five years ago he had come with aspirations, and hopes, and dreams. He /knew/ he'd be victorious in conquering over Earth someday. He /knew/ he'd bring the humans to their knees. He /knew/ he'd defeat Dib, and regain the honor he had before destroying his reputation in Operation: Impending Doom I. So why hadn't he? Why was he still forced to remain on this useless planet, waiting for the armada that would probably never come, waiting to gain back his Irken core that he could no longer recognize within himself? Why did he have to wait to make these futile transmissions, when he was always, always let down?  
Why was his one source of happiness the central source of pain?  
"Ask yourself any more questions, Zim," he muttered to himself under his breath, "And you just may get the answers you don't want."  
A sharp clanging sound erupted from behind him and Zim spun around, the metal arms exposing themselves out of his backpack, extended and ready. At that moment, Gir fell out from the ceiling and onto the floor. "Hi master!"  
"Gir," Zim sighed, relaxing as his metal arms contracted back into his backpack. "What do you think you are doing?"  
"Umm..." Gir's eyes squinted as if he were in deep thought. They became round again. "I'm playing hide n' go seek!"  
Zim gave him a look of concern. "With... who?"  
"With... you! I found you, master! It's your turn!"  
Zim turned back to the console. It was at 85%.   
"I do not have time to play games, Gir. I'm making a very important transmission to Irk."  
"Awww... master always gets sad when he talks to Irk," Gir said, slumping back up to the house entrance tube.  
Zim looked back at the screen, grimacing. Sad? An Invader does not become sad. Disappointed, yes, but surely not sad. He began to tap his fingers impatiently again. Could this take ANY longer???  
"Transmission cut off at 99%" the computer said, suddenly.  
"WHAT?!" Zim yelled, frantically trying to override the block. He fell back into his chair in defeat. After all that waiting... he pounded the console in anger.  
"Incoming transmission. Switching upload to download," the computer said.  
Zim peered at the computer screen, interested. He was actually getting a transmission? From the Tallests? That stirring feeling within him surfaced again as the screen opened up to the view of the two Irken leaders.  
"My Tallests..." Zim said, smiling. "This is certainly a surprise."  
"Zim," Almighty Tallest Red said, returning the smile. "Yes, it is. How is Earth?"  
"Earth is still as weak as ever," Zim's voice regained its gravity. "Would you like me to dispatch the report?"  
"No, that's quite alright, Zim," Almighty Tallest Purple said. "We knew you would be sending us a transmission soon-"  
"Once every six months!" Zim cut in, jovially.  
"Yes... well, that shall no longer be necessary."  
"Does this mean that you are finally sending the armada?" Zim asked hopefully.  
"Yes, Zim, we are," Red said with an air of contempt. Zim felt like cheering. THIS was his moment! This was what he had waited for so long for!  
"But before you get all excited about it," he stopped to give Zim a glare. "We're not going to send it for 17 kriells."  
"Seventeen kriells..." Zim gaped. He pulled out a universal translation unit and computed it. "But that's almost four earth years!"  
"You've already spent five, haven't you?" Purple asked. "What's another four?"  
Zim slammed his fist on the console pad. "Because that means spending another four years with these miserable humans, another four years finding ways to conceal my identity, and another four years of putting up with that foul human-"  
"You mean you haven't gotten rid of Dib /yet/?" Red asked, snickering.  
Zim's face burned. Ever since Dib had hacked into his console a year ago and actually contacted the Tallests himself, he never heard the end of it. He was angry at himself for even bringing the subject up. "No," Zim sneered, "I have yet to destroy him."  
This sent the entire crew aboard the ship into laughter, and Zim's fist tightened so hard he thought it might bleed. The only thing he hated worse than defeat was being ridiculed.  
"Yes, yes, yes, it's all very funny. But I really would like to know why you are putting off the armada's arrival for so long," Zim said tersely, trying not to show offence.  
"Yes, well we've come into quite some trouble with the slaughtering rat people... a war's broken out with the vicious things," Red said, still snickering.  
"War? Let me come and help!" Zim said. He wanted to get off of this planet, no matter what it took.   
"No, NO!" Purple yelled suddenly. "We do not need your 'help', Zim. Besides, you need to stay no Earth..."  
"To protect it. You know, from planet jackers, and... all that other stuff," Red added.  
"But Earth is FINE," Zim objected. He gestured to above him. "The worthless humans are not going anywhere- they barely have technology to reach planets within their own solar system- and I am sure no one else is interested in this piece of space junk, either."  
"Zim, it's final. Stay on Earth. We'll send the armada in seventeen kriells, as soon as the war is over," Purple said calmly.  
"No! I cannot stand it here! My Tallests-" Zim yelled.  
"Are you objecting to us, Zim?" Purple asked suddenly, his voice become solid and sharp. "Going against our orders?"  
"No," Zim grumbled, sitting back down in his chair.  
"It's /over/ Zim. Our decision is final," Red said, a little more gently. He began to laugh. "In the meantime, why don't you try getting rid of Dib? After all, he *is* only a worthless human, correct?"  
The screen faded to black, and red Irken letters flashed across it, translating in English roughly to: Transmission End.  
"Dammit!" Zim cursed, slamming his fist on the console again, his face burning from a mix of anger and shame. Something from the back of his mind screamed 'human term', but he could care less. He turned and slammed his fist into a nearby machine, which dented upon impact. Knowing fully well he would probably destroy his entire lab in this temper, Zim stomped over to the surfacing tube, not caring that he hadn't put on his human costume, and found himself back in the living room.  
A living room... which was in a complete mess. Cupcakes were everywhere, even on the floor and couch. Mud was strewn across the entire room, with footprints resembling hooves imprinted across the walls. Gir sat in the middle of room, next to Pig. Both were covered in what looked like a combination of chocolate and mud, but one could never be sure.  
"GIR?!" Zim yelled. "What happened? Are you malfunctioning again?"  
"No master!" Gir shouted back.  
"Then what the... What is this?!" Zim gestured to the mess in the room.  
"Me and pig decided to redecorate to cheer you up!" Gir said gleefully.  
Zim clenched his teeth, on the brink of losing his temper. "I do NOT need cheering up, Gir!"  
"Awww... master doesn't like the room," Gir's eyes swelled up with tears.  
Zim rolled his eyes at Gir's inability to connect what had been said with what was meant. "No, Gir. I suppose it is..." he held back from saying anything cruel that would probably result in Gir crying again, "...A nice change. But next time ask me first. The cupcakes won't last on the wall forever."  
"Okay!" Gir piped up. "Next time we'll use brainfreezies!"  
Zim stared at Gir for a second, and then shook his head. "Gir, as much as I enjoy having you back, I do question what it was that I missed about you."  
"I love you too, master!"  
"That's not what I said Gir," Zim said tersely.  
Gir stared at him blankly, and then yelled "Okay!" before returning to the television.  
Zim walked into the kitchen to get out the disinfectant and the sponges. He may as well begin cleaning up now. He walked into the room and began to scrub the floor. He had been working for an hour when he noticed Gir was still glued to the t.v.  
"Gir, aren't you tired of watching television?" Zim asked. That monkey was beginning to annoy him, even more than Gir himself. "Go out and get a brainfreezy or something."  
"Can't, master! It's a 24 hour marathon!"  
"24 hours incessantly of the Scary Monkey Show," he said in disbelief.  
"Yea! Without commercials too!"  
Zim paused, opened his mouth to say something, and decided to go back to work cleaning up. "I swear," he groaned under his breath. "This planet shall be the death of me."  
*************************************  
"Just leave me alone, Dib. I've had a bad day," Gaz was saying. Dib had interrupted her thought /again/, and now she blinked her eyes as they adjusted against the bright light that flooded into her room. She was peeking out of the door, creaking it open the smallest bit.  
"You? You've had a bad day? I was the one being ridiculed at lunch!" Dib said, exasperated.  
Gaz grinned, momentarily savoring in the memory of earlier. "Ah, yes, I forgot." She opened her door a bit wider and gave her brother a playful punch. "Don't worry about it, okay? It was all in good fun."  
"For you, maybe. Not for me."  
"It wasn't so bad, Dib," a smile crept across her face. "You should be proud of yourself. You made Liz laugh. Liz /likes/ it when guys make her laugh."  
Dib instantly brightened. "She does, doesn't she?"  
Gaz rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Okay. We're all happy now. So go away."  
"So long as you're nice about it," he turned around and prepared to walk down the stairs.  
Gaz hesitated before closing the door, and finally, she called out to him before he left. "Hey... Dib?"  
"Yeah?" he asked, turning back.  
She twisted her hands nervously, "I'm not a nice person, am I?"  
Dib raised an eyebrow, surprised at the sudden gravity of the question- and even more, who it was coming from. "Well... you're not exactly sugary sweet if that's what you mean."  
"Do you think I'm... you know- ice cold?"  
"'Course not, Gaz. Humans are normally 98.7 degrees Fahrenheit, about 67 degrees above the freezing point of water."  
Gaz gave him a 'look' and he grinned to show he was kidding. "I think you may play tough girl sometimes, but you're far from ice cold. You have just as many emotions as us normal people. You just don't show them as much."  
Gaz smiled at that. "Thanks, Dib. For being so nice, I won't pound you for calling me abnormal."  
"'Preciate it," he said as he headed downstairs.  
She turned around and closed the door softly, trying to get back to what she was doing, and sighed, seeing that Dib had already ruined her train of thought for the second night in a row, so she turned all her lights on and lay on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.  
"GAZ!" Dib yelled up to her. "PHONE!"  
Gaz sighed, sitting up. The phone had rang? She didn't even hear it. She must really have been out of it. Gaz picked up the phone and held the receiver to her ear. "Hello?"  
"Gaz!" Liz's voice exclaimed from the other end. "I'm so glad I reached you."  
"I'm not talking to you," Gaz said, preparing to hang up.  
"Oh please, please, please stay on the line," Liz said. "Listen, I'm sorry about today. I was being a real bitch, okay?"  
"Yes. Yes you were."  
"I shouldn't have pressured you into asking Zim. I mean, you obviously don't like him..."  
"And don't forget it."  
"It's just..." her voice sounded as if it was about to break. 'That's funny,' Gaz thought. 'Liz's voice rarely sounded like that.' Something must have been up.  
"What happened?" Gaz asked, concerned.  
"I got into a fight with Xan."  
"Over what?"  
"I don't even know... he was complaining about something, and one thing led to another, and now we're not even talking."  
Gaz sighed. She wanted to be angry at Liz, she really did. But now was not the time. She could yell at her later. Now she had to console her. She really did want to yell at her... yell at *somebody* at least.  
"Are you okay?" Gaz softened her voice, trying not to sound as if she were still angry.  
"I guess so. I... I don't think we'll be going to Homecoming together," she gave a halfhearted laugh.  
"You still can ask Zim. Thank goodness I refused to ask him, right?" Gaz said, not believing the words that were coming out of her mouth. It was something she /had/ to do, though. For selfish reasons, maybe, but at least it would help.  
"I... I don't know, Gaz."  
"You really like him, don't you?"  
"I think so."  
"Did you try that 'Writing without thinking' technique I talked to you about today?" Gaz asked. Liz was infatuated with him just yesterday. And though Liz could be impulsive and fickle, there was still hope, right?  
"Hey," Liz brightened. "That's an idea. I'll do that."  
"Good," Gaz nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow at school, then?"  
"Yeah."  
They hung up, and Gaz held her hand over the phone for a moment. Should she?  
She picked it up and dialed the number.  
"Hello?" a voice said from the other end. It sounded uncertain. Nervous, even.  
"Zim? It's me, Gaz."  
"Gaz?" Zim sounded surprised. Why would Gaz call him? And at this hour? "How did you get this number?"  
"Dib's my brother, remember? Anyway, I need to tell you something."  
  
  
A/N: Yes, yes, yes, it's not done yet! :-) Part III is going to be up... sometime. Yes, sometime! That's a definite promise. And it'll be the last Part... to *this* story anyway. 


	3. Part III

Keep Your Distance - Part 3  
  
  
  
/ I never felt this way  
  
How do you give me  
  
So much pleasure  
  
And cause me  
  
So much pain?  
  
'Cause wh-/  
  
  
  
Liz mumbled something inaudibly under her breath and shut the radio off. She sighed, reading the clean paper over, and nodded... it seemed to make sense now. She looked up at the room, at the various stuffed animals, and her eyes fell on Mooshoo... the bear that she had adored for years, even when the cotton filling spilled out of its arm and she realized she couldn't sew for the life of her to fix it. It was a juvenile thing... far too juvenile. But she still liked the bear. And juvenile could be a good thing, right? Too much gravity always had her on edge... it was like always having to be aware of what one says... and far too exhausting for her like, anyway.  
  
She shook her head and folded up the note, then put it away. She wanted to call Gaz to tell her everything, but glanced at the clock and saw that it was late... far later than she had expected. She turned the radio back on and blew out all the candles, then shut the light off and collapsed in her bed, falling into a deep sleep. She could get a few hours rest before tomorrow, at least.  
  
/-on fallin'  
  
In and out  
  
Of love  
  
With you  
  
I never  
  
Loved someone  
  
The way I  
  
Loved you. /  
  
***************************  
  
Zim sat, cross-legged, on the bench on Alumni walk, his notebook spread across his lap, a pencil in the air tapping the paper lightly. It wasn't as quiet as it usually was, mostly because it was the day before Friday and the entire school was abuzz about something called 'Homecoming', which would be occurring that weekend.  
  
The sun was lower than normal in the sky, and it was odd in a way. The cool Earth air seemed to settle over the school, a few of the leaves in the trees curdling upwards.  
  
This section of Earth was moving into another phase, known as 'fall'. Zim favored fall over most of the other seasons. It wasn't unbearably hot, like it had been in the summer, or unbearably cold, like in winter. Nor was it a lethal threat to his life, like spring was, when it rained most of the time and Zim was forced to bathe in paste every morning before leaving for school.  
  
He would have been at peace, but he was still dwelling over what the Almighty Tallests had said. Four years... he was /not/ going to survive four years. He couldn't help but feel a sense of jealousy and resentment to the disgusting humans that surrounded him. Always complaining about their lives, about how they had it so terrible- they had /no/ idea.  
  
"Is this even worth it?" he asked himself. It would be a total of nine years enduring this place. Waiting for the Armada. And what... what if the Armada never came? It would be nine years wasted.  
  
But if it did come...  
  
Zim shook his head, but his mind was racing a thousand miles a minute. He knew that the price of Earth's defeat was worth the wait. As long as he had brought the humans to their knees- it would always be the worth the wait. Wouldn't it?  
  
He paused; shifted his position. What would he do if the Armada did come? If Earth had been defeated? What, then? The prospect of imminent defeat for this ball of waste had always been his drive; his focus. When he wouldn't have that...  
  
Zim immediately broke from his thoughts, as he caught sight of Dib walking toward him out of the corner of his eye. This was /all/ he needed. He gazed down to his notebook, and the paper, which was now covered in little grey dots. He turned the page and began his outline, noticing thoroughly when he felt Dib's presence hovering above him.  
  
"What is it that you want?" Zim snapped, not bothering to add on a nasty name to the end of the sentence.  
  
Dib glanced back and forth; unsure, and then stuffed his hands into his trench coat, feeling the chill. "Nothing, Zim. Just standing here, enjoying the pitiful sight."  
  
"And what's *that* supposed to mean?"  
  
Dib only laughed, and then stepped back, smiling. "So... four years, huh? Really. I'm so sorry, Zim."  
  
"How did you find out about that?!" Zim yelled, throwing his pencil down angrily, his inner veins pulsating at a quickening pace.  
  
Dib laughed. "Easily. I hacked into your computer years ago. Every time you make a transmission to Irk, or Irk makes a transmission to you, my computer alerts me and I can see everything."  
  
Zim clenched his fist. "You, human, are RELENTLESS. I will destroy you for infiltrating my lab alone!"  
  
"Destroy me?" Dib laughed cruelly. "I doubt that. I could /easily/ get rid of you, Zim, but the idea of cutting you open is too irresistible."  
  
A vein could be seen pulsating from Zim's neck. "You're WRONG, human. You will NEVER catch the almighty Zim-"  
  
Dib grinned at Zim's growing anger. "Suuuure. I am only a worthless human, right?"  
  
Zim growled at that. "Go away, human. I'm busy."  
  
"Oh yeah..." Dib said, peering over Zim's notebook to see what he was writing. "Another master plan, am I right? I saw you giving Liz weird looks today."  
  
Zim slapped the notebook shut and gave Dib a menacing glare. "I was /not/ giving Liz weird looks."  
  
"I know the plan, Zim. I already heard about how you two are hitting it off."  
  
"Hitting it off? What ARE you babbling about?"  
  
Dib laughed mockingly, knowing that he was beginning to strike an open wound with salt. "Don't act like you don't know, Zim. I already know about Homecoming. What are you planning to do to her afterwards?"  
  
"You are sick, human."  
  
"Hey, I'm not the alien trying to take over the world. So really, what *are* you thinking of doing to her? Holding her hostage? Torture? Procreation?"  
  
"I DO NOT WANT TO PROCREATE WITH LIZ!!!"  
  
"What?" came a curious voice from behind they two arguing boys, and they spun around to see Liz approaching them, holding her books tightly in one hand and the strap of her backpack in another.  
  
"Oh, hi Liz," Dib broke out into an idiot's grin, and he backed away from Zim.  
  
"Dib," she nodded, and her eyes glazed over to Zim. "Zim. Hey."  
  
"Mmph," he growled, and secured his notebook in his arms, standing up and walking away, wanting to throw some salt onto wounds himself. "I'll leave you two alone."  
  
"No, Zim, wait!" Liz took off after him, leaving a dumbfounded Dib to stand there alone. He kicked the ground softly and walked off in the opposite direction.  
  
"What is it, Liz?" Zim asked, not missing a beat in his pace on his way to his locker.  
  
"Oh..." she blushed and looked down at the ground, trying desperately to keep up. "I... wanted to talk to you about all those stupid rumors."  
  
"/What/ stupid rumors?" Zim grimaced, his mind thinking back to the previous conversation he had with Gaz the other night. He looked around, unconsciously making sure the Dib sibling was not around to threaten him. He gazed back at Liz, sneering slightly at her unusual chirpiness today.  
  
"Well..." she said, her eyes falling onto the ground. "About you... and me... and homecoming."  
  
Zim stopped short of his locker and gave her a cock-eyed glance. He waited for a moment in silence, and then swung his locker open, disgusted. "What is it, then?" Zim said tersely, wanting the vile girl to leave him alone.  
  
"Liz!" Gaz had arrived at that moment, and grabbed Liz's arm. "I /have/ to talk to you. Right now."  
  
"But I..." she trailed off, giving Gaz a look of helplessness.  
  
Gaz and Zim exchanged glances as Gaz pulled Liz away down the hall. Zim, glad the human was gone, commenced in putting the rest of his things in the locker, and shut it, turning around.  
  
On the floor was a small piece of folded up paper. Normally, Zim wouldn't have cared for a piece of trash, but his acute eyes caught the fact that /his/ name was on that paper.  
  
He bent down to pick it up, and slowly opened it. The page was filled entirely in writing, front to back, the name 'Zim' popping up every so often. His brow furrowed to one of concern as began to read.  
  
Date: 10/2/05 Time: 11:02 p.m.  
  
Zim isn't exactly someone you would want to be spending your time with every day of one's life. He's a... how could I put this nicely? Actually, to hell with congeniality. In his own mind, he can be as condescending as he wishes, and continue to feel justifiably right in the fact that no one should belittle this aspect of him, but respect it; at the same time, he feels he has the divine right to criticize all others who come within the smallest vicinity of questioning him. This superiority hinders all good aspects that may be within. However, those good aspects are there... they only must be looked for. The way he conceals most of his emotions is intriguing in the fact that it mirrors-  
  
Zim stopped reading just as the bell rang. Vaguely ill humored at his luck, he folded the paper back up and stuffed it into his pocket, walking on. He would have more time to read it in class.  
  
***************************  
  
"Fucking pigs. Fucking, fucking pigs."  
  
Gaz stared at her best friend in awe. She couldn't believe that Liz would use language like that. Even more, she was surprised at who she was talking about. The same male sex that she idolized and loved and spent hours dreaming about each day she denounced within seconds with a few harsh words.  
  
"Ouch," Gaz grimaced. Hearing Liz curse was the equivalent of hearing a high priest do the same. It just wasn't normal. "Who got on your bad side today?" She tried lowering her voice, as they were both in math class 'supposed' to be in groups, conferring over the previous night's homework.  
  
"That... that... that GUY!" she said, and Gaz realized that the extent of Liz's cursing had been fulfilled. "He kissed some other girl. Some other girl that wasn't me!" she continued, as if it needed further explanation. "I swear, God created guys on this Earth merely so they can go around giving girls headaches."  
  
"...and to help populate the Earth."  
  
"That's all they're good for!" Liz yelled. "If girls ruled the world, we wouldn't need them. We'd force them to live underground and bring them up for mating purposes only!" *  
  
"What's worse," Liz continued, "Is that that's not even what we fought about last night. And today I caught him kissing someone else, and we got into another fight. I swear, guys don't ever use their brains to think. They always use their-"  
  
"Liz," Gaz warned, "Listen. Maybe... maybe Xan just wasn't right for you."  
  
"...you're right," Liz mumbled reluctantly, and then sighed as she let the words sink in. She glanced up at Gaz, remembering the conversation they'd had just before first period began. "Kind of an ironic twist, isn't it?"  
  
"Shut up," Gaz grumbled. She squirmed to a lower position in her seat, trying to hide a pale-white-turned-rose-red face.  
  
Surprisingly not noticing, Liz sighed and rested her head in her hands. "Why do things have to be so confusing? Why must everything become a Dawson's creek rerun?"  
  
Gaz readjusted herself in her seat and grinned. "If it's any consolation, Liz, if I were a guy, I'd go out with you."  
  
Liz sniffled and returned the smile. "Yeah... if I were a guy, I'd go out with me, too."  
  
**************  
  
Zim folded and unfolded the note all throughout Chemistry class, reading it over and over again, trying to find any hidden meaning or hints as to who the author was. Of course, the meaning was clear, but the paper's creator was a mystery.  
  
Of course, he automatically assumed it was Liz. But the diction of the paper made him stop and think for a few seconds. Could Liz really write something like this? Was she smarter than he thought? He reread a part of the note:  
  
"It's funny. I woke up this week thinking, or at least expecting, everything to be the same. And it's not. It's like it was my turn to be the puppet the Fates played around with, and I happened to be the lucky toy thrown over the edge of a cliff, into the waters, to float there and drown as I hope for the whale that won't come. The whale that's supposed to swallow me up and take me to safety. It's too late that I realize I've sunk too deep into the waters to be saved by anything anymore.  
  
I suppose sooner or later some green had to be thrown onto the canvas of my life, muddling up black and white and making it all so complicated. And now, life isn't black and white anymore. It's dark green and light green and an ugly greyish green all splattered onto some hideous page that no artist could be proud of."  
  
Zim wasn't sure what these 'Fates' creatures were (and secretly hoped they weren't dangerous) but he was positive that the words were a lot deeper than they were meant to be. Listening halfway to his English teachers' lectures had actually paid off.  
  
Of course, it shouldn't have come as a surprise to him that Liz was so intelligent. The Liz-human course, /had/ fixed Gir. That had been confirmed last night. Possibly she was withholding her intelligence from him. If so, he would have to be wary of her. This could be an entire conspiracy against him, and he wouldn't even know it. Zim looked down curiously again and studied the words on the page.  
  
"...it's a Catch-22. There's a thin line between love and hate, right? The hairline border is the slim chance of returned emotions. The border separates two sides. I can stand west in denial, or I can-"  
  
The paper stopped there. Zim sighed and rubbed his temples as he felt a growing headache, a result of the events of this entire week. He, like the author of the letter, had assumed that things would be the same as any other week. But Gir's illness and sudden restoration, the order from his Tallests to remain on Earth four years more, Dib's incessant pestering and Liz's lovesickness were all rolling into a huge mass of problems- a mass that he couldn't just get rid of with a simple wave of his hand.  
  
Zim looked at the letter that he had unconsciously folded up during the course of his thought. It wasn't /sappy/, that's for sure, but it was sickening to think a disgusting monster of a human had written it. Zim looked to the board, where his teacher was busy writing a balanced equation for water. He sighed and opened the note again.  
  
At least it helped pass the time.  
  
**************  
  
"Eat ball!" a boy yelled as he sweat profusely and broke out into an idiot's grin. He snapped his foot into a ball and sent it halfway across the field to an abandoned area. A plethora of other boys, equally sweaty, embarked in a tacit contest to see who could get to the ball first... even from members on their own team.  
  
Gaz and Liz sat on the sidelines, wearing the same baggy outfits as the rest of the students that littered the outer edges of the field. Gaz picked at a whitish flower, pulling apart the small, needle-like petals and sticking the rest of it into her mouth, letting the sweet fluid tingle her taste buds before discarding it behind her, then repeating the process with another unfortunate flower. Liz sat beside her, making a flower chain.  
  
"You were right," Gaz muttered, nodding toward the boys on the field. "The male sex is made up of nothing but idiots." She was ticked off at the male race for more reasons than one.  
  
Liz nodded slowly, and then held up her finished flower-crown, draped it over Gaz's hair, and grinned. Gaz only frowned at her and then plucked one of the flowers from the crown, sticking it into her mouth. Liz sighed solemnly, and nervously picked at her nails now that she had nothing else in her hands, thinking about the conversation they just had. "I... am so sorry, Gaz. I mean if I had known..."  
  
"It's okay," Gaz input quickly, not wanting pity. Desperate to change the subject of their focus, she gestured toward Liz. "What about you? You tried that technique I told you about, right?"  
  
"I did."  
  
"And?"  
  
Liz grinned solemnly, shaking her head. Gaz knew her long enough to know exactly what Liz was thinking, even if she didn't exactly show it. She took the flower out of her mouth and threw it into the growing pile of the others. "Damn."  
  
"It's not too late, you know... What *did* you tell him, exactly, last night?" Liz did not want to mention it, but she felt a little unnerved that Gaz had taken the liberty upon her self to call Zim about her, without her consent. She didn't say that, though; all had been explained.  
  
Gaz leaned back, reminiscing for a moment of the phone conversation from before.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Zim? It's me, Gaz."  
  
"Gaz?" There was a pause. "How did you get this number?"  
  
"Dib's my brother, remember? Anyway, I need to tell you something."  
  
"And you expect me to listen?" Zim asked, annoyed. In reality he was too tired to truly enforce his words, so he wasn't sure if she caught the hint. "I'm hanging up."  
  
"No!" Gaz sneered. "Just let me talk and I'll never call you again, okay?"  
  
Seeing as he wasn't going to get his way, Zim waved his hand away by habit, though he knew she couldn't see him. "Fine. Do it quickly."  
  
"Well... it's about Gir."  
  
"And what about Gir?"  
  
"Liz fixed him."  
  
There was a long silence. Then, Zim gagged, "She... she /what/?"  
  
"Don't *make* me repeat myself. She fixed him."  
  
"When... I mean... how? Gir is no ordinary..." Zim's voice trailed off. He could hear a long sigh at the other end.  
  
"No duh, Zim. Look, I can't get into specifics, here. Just know that she did it, and she did it because she likes you, okay?"  
  
Zim considered hanging up the phone, but he was still to puzzled, if not stupefied by the news. "And... just why are you telling me this?"  
  
"Because," Gaz's voice suddenly converted from worn out to threatening. "Because, you had better not hurt her. If she talks to you... asks you-" Gaz cut herself off and began again, "Talks to you, let her down nicely, but if you so much as snap at her-"  
  
"And what makes you think I'm going to let you order me around?" Zim sneered.  
  
"If you don't, just remember that I know where you live," Gaz responded in a tone not meant to be nice, and then slammed the phone down.  
  
It had been almost too easy a lie.  
  
"How congenial of you," Liz told her in a voice sarcastic enough to give away the obvious meaning.  
  
"Shutup," Gaz growled.  
  
"So... *that's* why he was giving me such weird looks today," Liz noted. "That alone started up all those rumors... Rachel must've caught him staring at me before first period..."  
  
"I'm sorry about that."  
  
"It wasn't your fault," Liz smiled. "Rachel blabbed to Christina, and you know once /she/ hears something, she tells Jennifer, and Jennifer tells Tiffany, Sara, and Jessica, and then *they* tell-"  
  
"Liz, please. I realize how the gossip system works. All those names, given by parents who lack originality... gives me... brain explody..."  
  
She smirked. "Okay. But... one thing still bugs me. Why did you tell Zim I fixed Gir? I... didn't."  
  
Gaz picked at the grass and then gave Liz a knowing glance.  
  
"Oh..." was all that her best friend could say.  
  
Gritting her teeth, Gaz pounded the ground with her fist. "This isn't fair! This isn't fucking fair!"  
  
"Listen, I'm sorry I /don't/ like him," Liz began.  
  
'It isn't that...' Gaz thought to herself, but let Liz continue.  
  
"And I appreciate you trying to help me out. It means a lot to me."  
  
Gaz just grunted and continued picking at the grass, head down so that Liz couldn't see her face.  
  
Knowing it was time to change the subject, Liz spoke, "I wonder who did fix him..." She sat back, biting her lip in concentration, not realizing that she hadn't changed the subject at all.  
  
Gaz stopped picking the grass, lost within her own deep thought. "...I... don't know."  
  
**********************************  
  
BBBBBRRRRRIIIIIINNGGGGGGG!!!  
  
Ah, the bell. At times a source of annoyance with it's shrill screaming and alerter of the beginning of a long day at school, but this bell was different. It held freedom, ringing through the halls and perking the ear of the students and teachers alike. It held a color, that transformed the dull greys of reality into vibrant yellows and reds and blues. It held the sound of the end of another horrible day in a horrible school on a horrible planet... for most lucky individuals, at least.  
  
But not for all.  
  
Zim slowly pushed himself out of his seat and trailed behind the stampede of anxious high school students, not caring if they shoved past him or stuck their dirty, human germ-infected backpacks in his face as they tried to squeeze out the door at the same time.  
  
For once, it didn't matter.  
  
He trudge toward the school gates- almost free- but then spotted Dib standing around talking to some of his strange friends in that Paranormal Faction cult of his. Inwardly, he groaned, knowing that there was no way to get around them. So he continued walking, head down to avoid catching their eye. It didn't work. Dib stopped talking to one of his friends and approached him, smirking venomously, brushing a hand through his black hair arrogantly.  
  
"So, alien. You know what tomorrow is?"  
  
Zim tried not to roll his eyes. Of /course/ he knew what tomorrow is. The whole damn school wouldn't stop talking about it. As if that wasn't enough, the multitude of posters in bright pink and neon green lettering were enough to both advertise and blind its readers. But Zim was tired of being bitter. So he tried a different approach.  
  
"No, I don't know what tomorrow is, human," Zim said innocently, enjoying the job of 'playing stupid'. He decided it was high time to play around with the Dib-human. "Would you please enlighten me? My head's been in the clouds over the past few days because I've been head over heels for Liz!" He gave a longing sigh just for effect.  
  
Dib growled, sensing the mockery, while some of his friends could not help but laugh. "Shut up!" Dib snapped at them, and then turned back to Zim. "Listen, you lame excuse for an invader-"  
  
Zim wasn't finished, yet. He waved his arms enthusiastically in the air. "Oh, Liz! I'm so in love with you! I won't let that mean old alien procreate with you! I'll protect you, for I am Super-Dib! The Savior of the Earth! Your Paranormal Knight in Shining Armor(! Look at how powerful I am- I fight with rancid meat and water balloons! How can any woman NOT fall in love with the sheer power of my overwhelming presence!"  
  
Some of Dib's friends were rolling, now, as well as a few other curious students who had gathered during Zim's monologue. Dib, meanwhile, was fuming. His clenched fist probably could have drawn blood. "You basta-"  
  
"Psychotic! Nerdy! Paranoid! Obsessed!" Zim lowered his arms. "Did I forget anything, Dib?" Without waiting for a response he continued, "You know, for all your spying on /me/ I would have rather guessed that I was the one you were in love with, not Liz! After all, I'm just an irresistible alien that you can't get rid of, right?"  
  
Dib looked shocked. Without thinking, he shouted, "I did not say that! I said it was irresistible to cut you open-"  
  
"Cut me open? In what way, Dib?" Zim smirked, now, as he had his audience in fits of laughter. Dib was giving him a glare that could slice through metal. But Zim was too immersed in the moment to care.  
  
Which is why he didn't see the fist flying his way.  
  
A few moments later Zim was sprawled across the ground, his head pounding and his cheek throbbing, the laughing circle of students now chanting "Fight! Fight!" He wiped a trace of blood from his mouth and sat up, only to be met with an infuriated Dib who pounced on him, punching him over and over again.  
  
The flying fists suddenly stopped and he opened his eyes to see Gaz, arms hooked around Dib's neck, and Liz rushing his way. She knelt next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Zim? Zim, are you okay?!"  
  
Angrily, Zim pushed past her and wrenched Dib from Gaz's arms, throwing him onto the pavement and making fist-to-face contact himself. Gaz grabbed his arms and twisted it behind him at an agonizing position.  
  
"Both of you! STOP it!" she yelled.  
  
Dib stood up, face flushed, and brushed himself off, preparing to fight again but halting once he caught Gaz's icy stare.  
  
"Let GO of me you intolerable bit-" Zim began, but his arm was only twisted further.  
  
"I can break your arm at this angle, Zim, so I suggest you shut up," she growled. She slowly released him and then turned to the spectators. "All of you, go HOME. The principal is on his way and I'm sure you all have your lives to get back to- or maybe not, considering you're wasting your time here."  
  
The students, afraid of the principal but even more afraid of Gaz's temper, slowly dispersed. Gaz turned to her brother. "Find another way to waste your time, Dib just don't do it here. If you get suspended again Dad will be /furious/."  
  
"Shove it, Gaz, this isn't your fight," Dib sneered, but he knew better than to question her. He picked up his backpack and left with his group of friends, giving Zim a menacing glare as he walked off.  
  
"You didn't have to /interfere/," Zim sneered ungratefully at Gaz.  
  
She smirked. "From the looks of it, I did." She picked up her own backpack and brushed a strand of hair from her face.  
  
Liz advanced on him. "You should go to a doctor or something, that looks /really/ bad-"  
  
"A doctor? I don't *need* a doctor, Liz," he scoffed, the distaste dripping from his words. He was still angered over the fight- evident by the glowering pink glare against his green face.  
  
Gaz tugged at her arm, motioning for her it was time to go. But Liz persisted, "You might need a banda-"  
  
"No."  
  
"But your face, it's-"  
  
"NO."  
  
"At least let me help-"  
  
"NO! I do NOT need your help!" Zim erupted. "I never needed your help! People like me do not *NEED* help from inferior creatures such as you! I didn't need your help with Gir and I /DON'T/ need your help now- especially not with you drooling over me every second of the day like you obsessed females do! Get it through your tiny head that I don't like you! I don't want you around! Especially not a garrulous, incessant bore like you! For the last time, get a hint and Leave. Me. Alone."  
  
Liz was taken aback by Zim's outburst. "I... I don't know what you mean..."  
  
"Of COURSE you don't!" Zim yelled sardonically. He ripped the note out of his pocket and waved it in front of her face. "Remember writing this?"  
  
Gaz, who had stood silent the entire time, was now shocked and angered beyond belief. She shoved Zim back, yelling, "Leave her alone! Did you not take my threat seriously when I made it?" Her eyes glanced at the forbidden note and she made a move toward it. Zim saw this and snapped his arm back, stuffing it back into his pocket and out of reach of anyone's hands.  
  
The tension, the anger, the buildup- they all were released from Zim's rant. He didn't feel ashamed at his outburst, nor that he had hurt Liz- the expression she gave him was so pitiful, so dismal and weak that he was disgusted with it. Huffing, he gave the crushed brown-haired girl one last glare before spinning around and walking off.  
  
Liz buried her face in Gaz's shoulder, sniffling, not understanding how her attempt to help Zim evoked such an angry outburst. "I don't know where he got that from... I swear, Gaz, I didn't write that note!"  
  
Gaz glanced at Zim's disappearing figure as he stomped away down the street, too worried to be angry. "I know, Liz. I know."  
  
  
  
A/N: And so part III is done. Thank goodness that chapter's over. If you hate this story, and hate me even more for making it go this way, feel free to flame me. I don't care anymore. Expect the Epilogue to come out somewhere from now until the year 2005 (hehe, I'm joking. The epilogue's already written- has been for a month. It'll come soon)  
  
Oh! I want to take this time to thank ALL you wonderful people who reviewed, e-mailed, IMed, stalked- who didn't and WOULDN'T leave me alone, no matter how many times I asked and threatened you to! In fact, it's because of YOU that this story is actually being continued written. Otherwise I might've left it long ago. ::hugs you all:: Thank you ^_^ Also, thanks to my betas. As usual, I'd be lost without you. 


	4. Epilogue

Epilogue:  
  
  
  
Outside, the moon cast a pale glow on Zim's house. Most of the lights in all the houses surrounding it were off, making the lone one stand out. But what made it stand out even more was the dark silhouette that stood atop the roof.  
  
The shadow froze as a slight breeze blew, rustling the trees and startling the mood. It breathed deeply, attempting to calm down. Then it crouched down and disappeared off the roof.  
  
Odd tubes stretched from the walls of Zim's house to those surrounding it, and the form used them to slowly edge down from the roof to a ledge, level with the floor of the attic. Then it stooped toward a section of the tube that was unlike the others. A curse escaped the shadow's breath as it accidentally touched the ice cold metal with their bare wrist. Grasping their wrist, they felt around for the same unlatched opening, which had allowed their entrance the last time, and would allow their entrance again.  
  
It was pitch black, making it difficult for the figure to see but at the same time making it difficult for any watchers to see the figure. There were none, however, and the figure successfully grasped the handle, pulling hard. The small door swung open swiftly, making a terrible racket as it clanged into the tube in back of it. The form froze momentarily, hoping no one heard the sound. The same quietness evoked just so.  
  
The figure dropped down into the access tube and carefully closed it, glancing around, but it was of no avail because it was completely dark around here as well, except for a pinpoint of light that signified the end of the tube. The form felt the walls of the tube as it carefully walked toward this light, forgetting to tread softly like last time as, for a moment, it strode over a small blue panel on the floor of the tube.  
  
***  
  
Zim was in his lab, slightly angered by what had happened earlier. Why couldn't humans just leave him alone? If it wasn't Dib that was chasing after him, it was Liz. For two different reasons, of course, but it was irritating to be forced to deal with either one of them.  
  
His eyes drooped. He was obviously exhausted. He was just about to fall asleep when a blaring alarm jerked him to full attention. His eyes glazed over to the console screen, where the words PERIMETER BREECH flashed across, the alarms resounding throughout the lab concurrently. Zim swung around, fist clenched, sneering beneath his breath, "Dib."  
  
He quickly stood up and grabbed his nearest weapon- a laser- and entered the Geoffrey's tube, which rose him to ground level. He halted for a moment to put the laser on it's highest power, and, grasping it tightly, moved out into the 'living room'.  
  
It was silent, except for the sound of the television blaring the Scary Monkey Show, a snoring Gir who sat asleep in front of it. Zim's eyes immediately led to the ceiling, and figured that Dib must be in one of the other rooms. He slowly walked over, turning the t.v. up slightly so the intruder would not hear him come, and then he turned toward Gir, clamping his hand over the small robot's mouth.  
  
"Shhhh," Zim whispered when Gir woke abruptly up.  
  
"Hi- mmph," Gir responded.  
  
"I said be quiet Gir!" Zim snapped again, still in the lowest voice possible. "We have an intruder."  
  
Gir was about to tell his master that he liked intruders, when a creaking sound in the kitchen caught Zim's attention. He immediately followed the sound, and stepped lightly, closing in on the entranceway to the kitchen.  
  
Finally, Zim had a full scale view of the kitchen. A figure was bent double from the ceiling, reaching out toward the table. It wore an outfit entire in black, much like the one Dib wore so many years ago when he infiltrated his house. He narrowed his eyes in the darkness, seeing a tuft of black hair sticking out from under the mask. On observing the figure itself, however, Zim could clearly see that the body structure could not possibly belong to Dib.  
  
"That's who visited me when I was fixed, master!" Gir said to Zim in a whisper of his own, thinking this was all a game.  
  
"What? Why did you not tell me this, Gir?!" Zim said, reminding himself to continue speaking in a low whisper.  
  
Gir stared at him for a moment and then responded, "You never asked."  
  
Zim gritted his teeth, about to answer to that, but instead slowly put down Gir. "Don't move," he instructed as he felt the laser with both hands. He rose it, aiming it directly at the intruder, and prepared to press the trigger.  
  
***  
  
The figure had breeched security now, and popped her head down from the tube, waiting patiently for her eyes to adjust to the dark so she could find what she was looking for. Directly beneath her was a small, green- colored dog, which sat, sleeping in front of the television. She quickly searched the room with her eyes, but realized it was not there. Slowly, she edged out of the tube just enough to use her legs to grab on to the various wires and cables that littered the ceiling. She used them again to mobilize herself across the ceiling, heading into another room.  
  
This place was darker, for it lacked the light of the t.v. that the other room had. Her eyes quickly adjusted and fell onto a folded piece of paper, sitting plainly in the middle of the table. She held onto a cable with both legs, and then slowly reached down, suspended in mid-air, toward where the note was. She thought she heard the dog waking up, but it was of no threat to her so she did not worry about it.  
  
Then she heard the click of a weapon, and her eyes shot over to another figure standing in the doorway. She panicked- her legs slipped out of the loophole of the cable- and she let out a scream as she fell toward the linoleum floor. Her hand reached out to grab hold of something, but all she could grab was air, and they flailed around wildly on her course downwards. Just missing the table with her head, she crashed into the ground, hearing the loud thud! that came with it. Extreme pain shot up both her legs, but she didn't care about that. She had to complete her mission. She had to…  
  
***  
  
Zim continued to keep the gun focused on the intruder, and quickly switched the kitchen light on so he could see better. She stood up swiftly, despite the obvious pain she was in, and her hands balled in fists, menacing eyes glaring from behind the black mask.  
  
"Yay! We won!" Gir shouted from behind Zim.  
  
Zim chose this moment to ignore him, and slowly stepped forward to examine the menace. Her eyes kept glancing up and down, however. She wasn't keeping her eye on the gun, she wanted-  
  
She made a sudden grab for the paper on the table, but Zim was there first. He had no idea /why/ she wanted the paper, all he knew was that she was after something of /his/ and must be stopped. He held the paper in his hands and held it up tauntingly.  
  
"Is this what you wanted? What you worked so dearly to get into my house for?" he growled, crumpling it up and stuffing it into his back pocket. "It is junk, really. You wouldn't want it."  
  
The figure only stood there, her eyes burning holes into Zim. He focused his eyes on her. "Who are you? What are you trying to do, intruding into my home like this?"  
  
She made no response. Zim reached up to remove the mask but she quickly backed away. He switched the weapon in one hand, and reached forward again, this time digging one of his claws into the girl's shoulder blade, and using the other to get a good hold of the mask. She let out a cry at the sudden jolt of pain but he ignored it.  
  
It was then that he saw the tufts of hair sticking from out under the mask were /not/ black. They were purple. And upon successfully pulling the mask off, seeing the purple hair fall to the shoulders of the trespasser, his eyes widened in surprise.  
  
"Gaz?!"  
  
***  
  
Gaz glared at him and massaged her shoulder blade, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in her shoulder. Her face itched now that the stuffy woolen mask had been removed and she was ticked off that she had been discovered. "You better not have broken my skin or else I'll-"  
  
"Gaz," Zim repeated in disbelief.  
  
Gaz rolled her eyes. "Yes. It's me. Now give me that note back or else I'll-"  
  
"Is that what you wanted to intrude into my house for?!" Zim yelled. "The stupid note?"  
  
"It was /not/ a stupid note it was-"  
  
"It was your pathetic friend's attempt to win me over," Zim rolled his eyes, took the crumpled note out and tossed it to Gaz. "Take it and get OUT."  
  
Gaz caught it and examined it to make sure it was what she was looking for. "Thank you," she said smugly, heading toward the door.  
  
"Wait," Zim spun around, another thought entering his head. "Gir, are you sure this is the one?"  
  
"Yep!" Gir said, hopping up and hugging Gaz's leg. "She had grape flavored hair, just like her!"  
  
Gaz kicked her leg into the air a couple times. "Get OFF, Gir! Let go! Bad dog… robot… thing!"  
  
Zim stepped forward and pried Gir off her leg, and then stood in front of her to block her exit. "You were in my house before."  
  
Gaz hesitated, wary. "Yeah, so? Is that a crime?"  
  
"But you told me Liz was the one to fix Gir."  
  
Gaz sighed, trying not to get agitated. "Yes, so I lied. Big deal." She took a step forward to leave but Zim wouldn't let her. He grabbed her shoulder roughly where he had previously injured it and pushed her back.  
  
"I want to know why," he sneered.  
  
"Get your hands off of me!" Gaz yelled, infuriated. "It is not any of your business and I wouldn't tell you even if-"  
  
"Tell me!" he ordered, digging deeper into her skin and pressing his face closer to hers. "Now."  
  
She backed away, and if she had been thinking straight, would simply have disabled Zim with a small kick. Zim glared down at her, unable to read the expression on her face and figure out why she was looking at him so strangely. Finally she seemed to snap out of it and pushed him away. "Let GO of me Zim."  
  
Oddly, he complied, but he stood his ground, glaring down at her in an intimidating stare. She did nothing but return the look.  
  
"I knew that you would have probably assumed that she did it," she sneered in a dangerously quiet voice . "So I fixed it. Not for you- for her. I thought that if you thought that she fixed it for you, maybe you would be /lenient/ on her. Apparently, someone like you is not capable of being lenient once in awhile."  
  
Zim grunted. "Lenient? I think not. Even if Liz did fix the robot, which apparently she didn't, that note-" he pointed toward the crumpled note in her hand. "That note is over the top. The girl is /insane/."  
  
Gaz grimaced, her face burning, and looked away. But Zim caught the expression, and though not human, was a good judge of the repulsive species. He could do nothing but stare at her, mouth gaping. "You...?" When she did not answer, he raised his voice. "YOU wrote the note?" She remained quiet, and he stepped forward threateningly. "Get it over with Gaz and tell me right now-"  
  
Gaz threw up her hands, yelling and regretting ever braving to come here. "Do you EVER tire? Yes. I wrote the note. I wrote the fucking note! Do you have a problem with that?" Gaz stuck her face up to Zim closely, glaring into his eyes.  
  
"I… um…"  
  
"Good." Gaz crumpled the note in her hands and backed down. She stared at him for a moment, cocking her eyebrow at Zim's expression. She turned around unenthusiastically. "Don't be so full of yourself, Zim. I didn't mean anything in it."  
  
"Then why-"  
  
"I wrote it for Liz too, okay? With the same futile hope as the outcome with fixing the robot," she gave a cynical laugh that seemed forced and empty. "For a moment you actually thought-"  
  
"NO!" he yelled suddenly. "No, I never thought that."  
  
"Good," she said, grabbing her mask and tucking it into her pants pocket. She flung open the door, and just before shutting it, turned back. "And Zim? If you ever tell anyone- I'll kill you." She smiled broadly, winked, and slammed the door shut, so hard that it shook the windows of the house.  
  
"I like her," Gir murmured.  
  
Zim sighed, staring at the shut door, and shook his head. "Stupid humans. Destroying this planet will be doing them a /favor/, in all their supreme idiocy." He sat down on the couch, Gir hopping up to sit next to his beloved master.  
  
"I like the stupid humans."  
  
"No, Gir. Don't like them. Hate them. HATE THEM!" Zim growled, turning the t.v. on.  
  
"Awww... but the stupid human fixed me!" Gir whined.  
  
Zim's fist clenched at the thought of this. Yes... yes, Gir, no matter how idiotic the scrap-for-brains was, was right. But surely if Gaz was able to fix him, /he/ could have fixed him.  
  
Zim said nothing and turned it to the Scary Monkey Show, murmuring something barely audible about four years. But for the life of him, he couldn't get tonight's events out of his mind. He finally stood up, agitated, walking toward the kitchen.  
  
"Where ya goin', master?" Gir asked, giggling for no apparent reason.  
  
"To my lab. To reinforce the base with more weapons."  
  
"Awww... kool-aid human won't be able to fix me anymore," Gir whimpered.  
  
"So don't get yourself broken anymore," Zim growled from inside the kitchen. He paused and glanced toward the ceiling, were scraps of metal and wires were still hanging down from Gaz's fall. "Stupid humans and their stupid emotions..." he said as he descended down toward his lab. The last sound that came from his lips echoed across the cold, metal walls of the transport tube, words that struck the walls and the air and the core of anyone who might be listening like a dagger to the heart.  
  
"Pathetic."  
  
END.  
  
A/N: Yes. It ends there. TA-DA!! It's done! Finally!  
  
...now on to the sequel!  
  
There's a very important reason why I stopped it at that place up there. That because, if you didn't get the indications, this is going to be a ZAGR. Yes. Shame on me. I'm such a horrible fan.  
  
One important thing you should know is that the sequel will NOT be posted on FFN. See my profile if you really want to know why. And now... see that little button down there? I'd LOVE you forever if you clicked it and typed in a review. 


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